Kaze Uta Budo Kai Forum Archive

As a fisherman, I try to expand my toolbox each trip out -- try something new.

One of my great fishing buddies (like most any fisherman) has a favorite "go to" bait for catching fish. His just happens to be a Berkley Powerbait worm, 7½ inches, black with chartreuse tail.

In the martial arts, we call this a tokui waza or favorite/favored technique.

In either case, I call it a crutch.

You have to get outside your comfort zone. You have to try something new if you're going to grow.

So, my buddy promised himself (to my great shock, as he is highly competitive) that he would not throw his favorite worm all year long. He's been trying spinner baits, and crank baits, and things he wouldn't have tried otherwise. And guess what? He's catching bigger fish this year.

Last weekend I opted for something new. I was watching a fishing show with Roland Martin -- one of the legends of the sport -- I had saved on my DVR from the Outdoor Network. He was talking about what a great bait the Senko worm is.

Now, I like going to Bass Pro Shops. So much in fact, my girlfriend calls me a Bass Pro Ho. I've helped customers find stuff the staff didn't know the location of. Let's just say I've spent a couple of hours there and leave it at that.

I was going to pick up a bag of Gary Yamamoto Senko worms, except they didn't come in the color nor the size I was looking for. I started throwing 7½ inch worms, but lately have been favoring the 10 inch Berkley Powerbait. I've got a few from Yum, and noticed their variety of Senko called a Dinger. They had it in a 7 inch, and I immediately went for Junebug color -- which has been a great producer where I fish.

My girlfriend's son, who turns 15 at the end of October, is pretty new to bass fishing. He fished a little in 2010, and has barely wet a hook in 2011. He caught his first two bass a couple of weeks ago, and would have made three if he'd set the hook -- I caught three, and my fishing guru buddy caught four that day. He asked me, "Why Junebug? You know that works. Why not try something else?"

Dammit.

He had me. I was going to get out of my comfort zone by trying a different manufacturer and style of worm. Heck, let's go for the trifecta and choose a different color. I labored over a couple of choices, and ended up with Yum's Red Shad color.

I gotta say, it was quite a producer. I probably used half a bag of worms. I had a perch pull one completely off the hook in a series of machine gun taps. I had two other bass totally swallow the worm, hook and all well past the barb on one giant hit. Needless to say, I was quite impressed. I got out of my comfort zone, and look at the results.


To summarize, don't fall prey to the things that feel comfortable. We develop confidence in a martial arts technique or a fishing bait because it's created success for us in the past. We often skip many other great producers and keep doing the same old thing because it's worked in the past. Get out of your comfort zone, try something new. Heck, you might just end up with a new favorite!

Well said. Seems like every time I look, listen, or even pay attention I learn. Even while teaching. Suprising how infrequently I pay attention.

So, a follow-up to this idea.

One of the sales guys I used to work with was on the bass fishing team at Oklahoma State University. He fishes tournaments regularly. We fished tournaments together for a couple of years. It was fun. I'm a competitive guy. It's good to see how you stack up against other guys, on a given body of water, on a given day.... sort of like shiai in Judo. But, I ain't all that into paying money to be a taxi service for fish.

Anyways.... I have been thinking about buying a boat for a couple of years. Major expenditure, so lots of research, lots of hesitation. He tells me that he drove by one of the local shops that does repo work, and they had a nice Ranger bass boat sitting out there. So, I call the guy, talk to him. End up buying it, because he's tired to dealing with a guy who's trying to nickel and dime him.

Wow. I own a boat. What's the first thing I do? Throw more money at it! Thousands of dollars in upgrades. New trolling motor, biggest 24 volt motor Minn Kota makes. Lowrance Gen2 Touch Screen graphs --the big 12 inch jumbo-trons my buddy calls them. Two of 'em. Their latest (at the time) SpotLight scan 360 degree transducer for the trolling motor. Navionics Platinum map chip. And, of course, one needs to fill the rod locker of the new boat 😂

BIG TIME LEARNING CURVE. Lots of technology to learn. Side imaging, down imagining, sonar, different frequencies delivering different scan rates and detail, which means a different idle speed is needed for best results. And, it seems, with every software update Lowrance adds goodies but breaks something. Or moves something to a different menu.

So, it's been a few years. Let me recap.

First fish over 6 pounds, on a jig, Lake Arcadia.
Two fish over 5 pounds, crankbaits, Lake Arcadia.
First fish over 7 pounds, crankbait, Wetumpka Lake.
A fish one ounce lighter, plus 4 others that totaled over 28 pounds, Cedar Lake, on a jig.

I'm making my own jigs these days, because Booyah stopped making the A-jig. Silly them. I sell a few here and there to recoup some costs. Mainly a break even plus a little money for time in casting lead, powder coating, ordering supplies, and tying skirts by hand. I usually make them in batches of 50 or 100. We cast the heads, quality inspect for proper pour (hook keeper, full pour, no missing materials). From there, we smooth them up with a file, heat them with a heat gun, dip them in powder coat, then bake them in an oven to cure. I store them in Ziploc bags, sorted by head weight and color. I tie colors as I need them.

Crankbaits. Lesson #1: Change the factory hooks. I love Strike King baits, but the stock hooks just flat suck. Spend the money, upgrade to Mustad KVD triple grips. I will typically upsize and go with a short shank hook. For example, if a bait usually has a #2 treble, I can put a #1 short shank on. Bigger hook, but the short shank makes it ride closer to the body so they don't foul. And, another thing -- spend the money for the Texas Tackle split ring pliers. Yes, they're expensive. Yes, they're worth EVERY PENNY. Don't kid yourself.

I've gotten into using finesse gear (aka, the fairy wand as Kevin Van Dam calls it). I've spend more time with the shakey head than I have the drop shot, but I can do both passably. A far cry from when I wrote this. Again, get out of the comfort zone, embrace that you suck at something, and then get better at it. I don't like digging into the left rod locker on the boat, because that's where my two spinning rods are. But, if the conditions dictate it, then I will do it because I know I can.

I've gotten much better at fishing crankbaits. I like the Strike King 2.5 series, 5XD and 6XD a lot. Chartreuse with blue back is probably one of my favorite colors, since it landed my personal best of 7 pounds 6 ounces. But, a squarebill in a natural perch, bluegill, gizzard shad or sexy shad can be tough to beat.

I've always like spinnerbaits, but now I know about its cousins. The bladed jig (or chatterbait) puts off more vibration and is more erratic than the spinnerbait. The swim jig puts off less vibration, and is more subtle. They all have their place at the table. The trick is figuring out which one to pick.

I've learned about different fishing line, and when to use it for maximum effect. The old school monofilament line (Berkley XT, the old mean green) is pretty much relegated to topwater duty. Braid is bomber for main line, and for certain applications that I usually don't run into, like punching grass. It is a requirement, however, for the finesse rigs, along with a fluorocarbon leader. Most of my fishing stuff has braid as a backing, with fluorocarbon filling the remainder of the spool. 15 pound for my two jig rods, 12 pound for everything else (10 or 8 pound for finesse stuff). Fluorocarbon is virtually invisible in water, and is a must-have for any clear water fishery. Period. You're missing out if you aren't using it.

Likewise, I've learned a lot about knots. My current favorite is the San Diego Jam, or the doubled San Diego Jam for a terminal knot. For splice knots... I'm still torn. One of my idols, Aaron Martens, is a big proponent of the Uni Knot. He uses it for everything, including drop shotting. I still like the tie fast knot tool doing the nail knot splice for putting different line together. I think it's stronger than a surgeon's knot, which one of my buddies that is a big jig fisherman swears by.

There's more, but I think you get the idea. Comfort zones are meant to be broken. The only way to expand our knowledge & understanding is to not be comfortable. If you're the smartest guy in the room, you're in the wrong room.